

























GARFIELD MEMORIAL. 


SORROW 

OF THE 

PEO PLE OF BUENOS A Y RES 

FOH THE DEATH OF 

GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

LATE PRESIDENT 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BUENOS AYRES: 

PRINTED BY ORDER OF COMMITTEE. 

1 S 8 1 


















GARFIELD MEMORIAL. 


SORROW 

OF THE 

PEOPLE OF BUENOS AYRES 

FOE THE DEATH OF 

GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

LATE PRESIDENT 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BUENOS AYRES: 

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE. 


1881 









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.QZSdT- 

I 

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Printed by Lowe, Anderson & Co., 171 San Martin 



Mrs. Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, 


THE GENTLE, HEROIC WIFE, 

WHOSE NOBLE DEVOTION AND PATIENT MINISTRATIONS 

TO HER HUSBAND 

TENDERLY SOLACED THE WEARY DAYS AND NIGHTS 
WHICH SUCCEEDED THE CRUEL DEED 
OF JULY 2nd, 1881. 

AND HAVE WON FOR HER THE RESPECTFUL LOVE 

AND ADMIRATION OF THE WORLD, 

THIS TRIBUTE OF SYMPATHY 

IN THE MIDST OF HER SAD BEREAVEMENT, 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 

THE AMERICAN CITIZENS 

RESIDING IN BUENOS AYRES. 










* 







♦ 









































At an adjourned meeting of the Americans residing in 
Buenos Ayres, of which General Osborn was chairman, and Mr 
J. M. Grace was secretary, it was resolved to print in pamphlet 
form an account of the manifestatians of sympathy, and of the 
public demonstrations, which have taken place in this city, in 
honor of General James A. Garfield, late President of the 
United Statvs; and a Committee consisting of E. L. Baker, 
C. S. Bowers, C. H. Sanford, B. D. Manton and W. E. Baker, 
were appointed to superintend such publication. In the execu¬ 
tion of this trust, the Committee, in order to bring the volume 
within the prescribed limits, have reluctantly been compelled to 
omit entirely the numerous cards, letters and addresses of con¬ 
dolence which were received at the United States Legation; as 
also the various Editorial articles, published by the newspapers 
of Buenos Ayres, in mourning columns, on President Garfield. 
The Committee regret this the more, as many of the former 
were most tender and touching expressions of personal sorrow 
over the loss which the people of the United States have sus¬ 
tained in the death of their beloved President, while the notices 
of the Press were fervently eloquent of his manly virtues, his 
varied accomplishments, his beautiful life, and his eminent 
public services. All these words of sympathy, in the midst of a 
national grief which is so consecrated, are veiy precious, and 
will find a response in every American heart. Benedictions may 
they be not only to the sorrowing people of the United States 
but to those who have so kindly uttered them. 

E. L. BAKER, 

Chairman of the Committee. 

Buenos Ayres, October 3, 1881. 







t 







His life was gentle! and the elements 
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, This was a man. 


Life’s race well run; 
Life’s work well done; 
Life’s crown well won; 
Now comes rest! 


He is gone, who seemed so great; 
Gone—but nothing can bereave him 
Of the force he made his own 


Being here; and we believe him 
Something far advanced in State; 
And that he wears a truer crown 












I. 


THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

---*++- 


The sad intelligence of the death of His Ex¬ 
cellency James Abram Garfield, President of the 
United States, reached Buenos Ayres on the evening 
of the 20th of September, 1881. The cablegram 
was as follows: 

“All is oyer! President Garfield died 
last night.” 

The news was published in the city papers on 
the next morning; and, although not unexpected, 
it cast a gloom over the whole city. Not only the 
Argentine authorities hut all classes of people, with¬ 
out regard to nationality, received the mournful 
tidings with profound emotion. 

At once, without waiting to receive the official 
announcement, flags were displayed at half-mast 
from all the public buildings; as also from the 
various foreign Legations and Consulates, and from 
innumerable private houses in all parts of the city. 
The National and Provincial Legislatures noted the 
same upon their journals and immediately adjourned 
their sessions. Telegrams from the Governors of the 
different Provinces announced the suspension of all 
official business throughout the Argentine Bepuhlic. 
All transactions were quite suspended on the Ex¬ 
change of Buenos Ayres; while calls of sympathy 










2 


Garfield Memorial. 


and condolence, not only from official and foreign 
Representatives, but also from the leading citizens 
of the place, were made at the United States Lega¬ 
tion. The following semi-official letter from Ur. de 
Irigoyen, Argentine Minister of [Foreign Affairs, 
was immediately conveyed to General Osborn: 

[translation]. 

Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 

Bureau of the Secretary of State. 


Buenos Ayres, September 21, 1881. 


My esteemed Mr. Minister,— 

It is with sincere grief that I have just received the news of 
the sad death of His Excellency the President of the United 
States, General James A. Garfield, of which fact I have informed 
the President of the Bepublic. 

My Government deeply laments the irreparable loss that 
has just been caused to the United States in the death of their 
Chief Magistrate, the victim of a crime that is condemned by a 
world’s opinion; and although no official communication of so 
untoward an event has as yet been received, the Argentine 
Government, interpreting the feeling of this Republic, has 
hastened to take part in the legitimate mourning of the United 
States, and has ordered the National flag to be half-masted 
to-day on all public buildings. 

The President only awaits the official confirmation of the 
fatal news I refer to, to order such official measures to be taken 
as may be conducive to honor the memory of the illustrious 
President of the Union, and once more testify to the perfect 
friendship that unites us to that Nation. 

I beg of Your\Excellency to accept the consideration with 
which I remain, 

Your Excellancy’s most obedient Servant, 

(Signed) Bernard de Irigoyen. 

His Excellency General Thomas O. Osborn, 

United States Minister Resident. 









Garfield Memorial. 


3 


To this General Osborn at once returned the 
following* reply: 

Legation of the United States. 

Buenos Ayres, September 21, 1881. 
My esteemed and distinguished Mr. Minister,— 

For the delicate and tender note of Your Excellency of 
this date, remembering my Government in this hour of its 
sorrow and mourning, please accept for your Government the 
grateful thanks of this Legation, and be assured, Mr. Minister, 
that the kind expressions of sympathy and manifestations of 
sorrow, which cannot await the lingerings of official information, 
will be accepted, appreciated and ever held in lively remembrance 
by that Republic and her people, with whom your Republic joins 
to-day in mourning the loss of a Chief Magistrate, President 
Garfield. 

Your Excellency will please accept assurance of my highest 
esteem and consideration. 

(Signed) Thomas 0. Osborn. 

His Excellency Dr. Don B. de Irigoyen, 

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arg. Republic. 


Cards and notes of condolence were received 
from many other persons, who were not able per¬ 
sonally to offer their regrets, expressing the deep 
sympathy they felt for the people of the United 
States in the calamity which had befallen them. 
Among the American residents in Buenos Ayres 
there were special manifestations of sorrow over the 
lamentable news. The United States Legation and 
Consulate, with their flags at half-mast, were at 
once closed to all official business; and groups of 
our countrymen during the day assembled at both 
places, overwhelmed by the hitter grief which filled 
their hearts, all of them regarding the President’s 
death, not merely as a National calamity but as a 
personal bereavement. 











II. 


MEETING OF AMERICAN RESIDENTS. 


Upon the receipt of the cablegram announcing 
the death of President Garfield, General Osborn 
had the following invitation published in the city 
papers: 

In view of the sad intelligence which has been received of 
the death of President Garfield, the citizens of the United States 
now in Buenos Ayres are requested to meet at the United States 
Legation, 136 Calle Lavalle, at one o’clock on the 22nd inst. 

In accordance with this invitation, a large 
number of Americans assembled at the United 
States Legation at the appointed hour. Among 
these were General Thomas O. Osborn, United 
States Minister; E. L. Baker, United States Consul; 
B. D. Manton, United States Consul at Colonia; 
W. E. Baker, United States Vice-Consul at Buenos 
Ayres; Messrs. Bowers, Bean, Blythe, Sanford, 
Walker, Wilkinson, Eolmar, Osborne, Newland, 
Powers, Livingston, Pasman, Bate, Bev. J. E. 
Thomson, Pressinger, Jacobs, Zimmermann, E. 
Jacobs, Martin Grace, Morse, Moores, Bogers, 
Buttifalir, Horton, Newbery, Lowe, Dobbins, Warren, 
Yateman; Captains Morton, Mitchell, Finnigan, 
Tidmarsh, Hitchborn and others. 







Garfield Memorial. 


5 


The meeting was called to order by Consul 
Baker, who, after stating its object, nominated 
General Osborn as chairman, which motion was 
unanimously carried. 

General Osborn, on taking the chair, addressed 
the meeting as follows : 

My Countrymen :— 

Death at all times is solemn ! When friends die, friends 
lament; when good men die, the peoples mourn. 

Garfield is dead, and a world weeps ! 

It is true, the wires have brought us the sad and mournful 
intelligence that Death has been in our Capitol—it has stricken 
our strong man to his fall—it has crept to the uppermost round 
of our ladder, and by the bloody red hand of a madman, in the 
presence of fifty millions of our countrymen, it has robbed our 
Chair of State. 

In a little while, when his countrymen and the loving 
millions of every land are embalming with their memories, in 
their hearts, the greatness and goodness of the “Mother’s Boy,” 
the grave will close over the Temple—that Temple, once of the 
Holy Ghost, now the remains of him who but yesterday was the 
Chief Magistrate of our Republic, President Garfield. 

It appears to me fitting and proper that we, who are so far 
from home, in this noble sister Republic—but to-day under the 
folds of our old flag, at half-mast—should mingle our sorrows 
and tears, in this hour of our Nation’s grief. I know, for 
days and weeks, you had hoped,—-for weeks and months, with 
the sympathising millions of the world, you had prayed that the 
bitter cup might pass by. I know, that at the night and at the 
morning, for long weeks and months, you gathered closely 
around the couch—his last battle-ground for life. You stood by 
the side of tfie wife, children, and that venerable heroic old 
mother, who, a half century agone, had battled with hunger, and 
the wilderness of the West, for her boy-President, and there 
witnessed with strong but anxious hearts, and steady nerves, the 
long and awful contest of ,tlie veteran soldier, the pure statesman 
and the Christian gentleman, as he grappled with the monster 
Death. 









6 


Garfield Memorial. 


It is over now, the battle is finished. This is not our day 
of trouble, but our night of sorrow; our hearts are full of grief; 
we bow our heads, for we know now who is the vanquished and 
who the victor. 

For the Eepublic we have no fearful apprehensions as to the 
present or the future. The steady hand of the clear-headed, 
accomplished Arthur will not be found wanting in the hour of 
her need. The Eepublic has had, and may have again, her 
critical periods, but this is not one of them. Our Eepublic 
must and will yet accomplish her mission; the hope of the 
Eepublican civilised world is still fixed upon her. One round 
century has not weakened, but rather has strengthened that 
confidence. She is still the Star of Nations. She has ever, and 
will yet give, new impulses to the lovers of Freedom throughout 
the world. As a sailor, tempest-tossed, is guided by the Polar 
Star, so they, the lovers of Liberty throughout all lands, in their 
storms of war and anarchy, amid the darkness of superstition 
and ignorance, will hail the light burning there, as an orb, which 
shall direct them to a destiny as happy as our own—a Free 
People. 

That critical period, if it must come to our Government, 
is in the far future. It may come—not when Chief Magistrates 
fall by the hand of assassins—not when fratricidal hands shall do 
their bloody executions—not when foreign arms shall glitter on 
our shores, for they are all in the past now; but it will come when, 
as a nation, we shall boast of our greatness, but give not justice 
to man—when our Counsellors and Chiefs of State shall boast 
of their wisdom, but acknowledge not the light of Christianity— 
when they shall profess faith in the Bible, but obey not its 
precepts—when degrading and disgusting cliques of unprincipled 
demagogues shall control our Government—then that critical 
period may be at hand; then the Angel, who stands with one 
foot on sea and the other on land, may cry as he casts the stone 
of her greatness into the ocean, “Time with her shall be no 
more;” or, like a bark driven by the tempest, or torn by the 
angry surges of mid-ocean, she may go down with scarce a pity¬ 
ing eye to weep her fall, or a friendly hand to record her last 
struggles. But that time will never come so long as we keep our 
flag to the breeze—that flag with its red as pure as the life-blood 
which flowed from the side of Garfield, with its white as pure as 
the name of Washington or Lincoln, and as unsullied as the 







Garfield Memorial. 


7 


robes that float around the Angels ; with its blue as pure as if 
cut from the dome above; with all its stars as much God’s stars 
as those which sparkle in the firmament on high. 

That time, my countrymen, will never come, so long as we 
remember that we have but one common country, one common 
interest, but one grand temple of Freedom, but one Altar, 
around which we all can gather and there stir the sacred fires, 
light our sacrifices, and be always ready “for the time of action;” 
then justice will be satisfied and our countrymen will always be 
freemen. So long as the great warm heart of our Eepublic 
throbs with noble impulses, prosperity and progress will ever be 
hers. This sad distress which has come to her children and her 
friends will not check her onward course or embarrass her 
future. 

It is not with fear or apprehension, but rather with sorrow 
and sadness, that we have to do to-day. We can now only 
wander back into the shadow of the past and gather up and lay 
away in our hearts, incidents and the glorious life-record of him 
who, but a few hours ago, was ours—when he was a boy—and 
then when he was a man, for now, to those who knew him well, 
he is almost a god. 

Garfield did not appear like the flash of a meteor in our 
world and then disappear, for he was a child of his heroic mother 
and the Eepublic. He came from an humble home, and with 
measured and stately steps he marched out and up that rough 
and ragged path, guided by truth, honest purposes and Christian 
convictions, until he reached, in the strength and glory of Ids 
manhood, that seat, known to be the highest in the land, 
of a Washington, a Jefferson and a Lincoln—the Presidential 
Chair. 

General Garfield, our President, is dead! so the terrible 
despatch, with the thousands of flags of this city at half-mast, 
tells to-day. I dare not mutilate his history. I dare not tell you 
that when the dangers gathered so closely, and remained so long 
about the life of our common country, it made him a soldier and 
a veteran. The sufferings and hardships which he endured in 
the camp, on the march, in the trenches, and braved on the field, 
for the land we all love so well, made him our brother. 

I cannot lead you over all of his battle-grounds to-day; I 
can but simply remind you that when the most critical period in 
the history of our Eepublic, when that most awful and moment- 







8 


Garfield Memorial. 


ous period had come, when the present was full of doubt and 
dark gloom was upon the future, when the eloquence and argu¬ 
ments of our greatest statesmen had failed to maintain the 
integrity of our Government, when they were powerless to arrest 
the waves of dissolution, then Garfield, young Garfield, with his 
comrades, stepped up from the altar of his home and stood on 
the altar of his country. Our hearts are too full of tears to-day 
to pronounce an eulogy. His history is a part of the history of 
his country. I stand here to do him no homage. I knew him 
well, but his goodness and his fame are above my words and my 
praise. 

For more than fifteen long years he was the leader of the 
popular branch of our Congress, where all the millions of oar 
people are represented and felt. They knew he was pure and 
able, and scarcely had his native State directed, and before he 
was permitted to take his seat in the Senate, his countrymen 
commanded that he step up higher. 

If he had enemies while living, and they can throw doubt on 
his valour as a soldier, on his ability and purity as a statesman 
and a citizen, on his tenderness as a husband and a father, I too 
will shut out all; I will forget his record; I will forget that sea 
of fifty thousand upturned faces while he was speaking living 
words to millions. They may say he was not the first citizen of 
the world, and I will be deaf to his clarion voice and those solemn 
words “to obey the Constitution of our fathers and the will of 
the people;” I will turn from that solemn and beautiful scene, 
and witness him embrace his venerable mother, and still declare 
he was a man, “ the noblest work of God.” 

The hand of a madman did the bloody deed, and the flag of 
this sympathizing people assert that he lives no more ; but I 
declare to you he does, and will continue to live so long as men 
do not forget the good and great of earth—not in song simply, 
not in ideal fancy, not in the form of a shadowy rapping spirit 
or sprightly fairy that hovers about the dreamer’s pillow, but 
with the Father of his Country he will live and rest in the hearts 
of his countrymen. 


Mr. C. S. Bowers nominated Captain Benjamin 
D. Manton, United States Consul at Colonia, Uru¬ 
guay, and Willis E. Baker, United States Vice-Consul 






Garfield Memorial. 


9 


at Buenos Aires, to be secretaries, which was una¬ 
nimously agreed to. 

Consul Baker moved that a committee of five 
he appointed by the Chair to draft and report resol¬ 
utions in reference to the death of President Garfield, 
which motion was carried. 

The Chair appointed as said Committee Messrs. 
E. L. Baker, Andrew C. Bean, C. S. Bowers, Wilson 
Jacobs and C. H. Sanford. 

During the absence of the Committee on Resol¬ 
utions, Mr. W. T. Livingston addressed the meeting 
as follows: 

Mr. Chairman: 

We are here to-day to mingle together our feelings of 
melancholy grief and sadness. The occasion calls forth the 
deepest sorrow of our hearts. In the death of our lamented 
President, General Garfield, our country has sustained a great 
loss. This sad event, for the last few days, has not been un¬ 
expected ; but it comes with a terrible shock; and, as Americans? 
strikes us with all the force of a public calamity. 

While we lament for the dead, our warmest sympathies are 
enlisted for the aged mother and the bereaved widow and 
children. May that kind Providence, whose ways are beyond 
our vision, guide them out of the darkness which surrounds 
them, and give them support and comfort in the midst of their 
great affliction. For the vile deed, committed by the hand of a 
frenzied assassin, which has deprived them of their head and 
protector, they have the sympathies of the whole world; and 
from no part have expressions of grief for the sufferings, and of 
hope for the recovery of our departed President, been so fervent 
and heartfelt as from our Mother Country. We especially ap¬ 
preciate with grateful hearts the kind messages of her British 
Majesty, the Eoyal Children and the Prime Minister of Great 
Britain, which have crossed the Atlantic to the bedside of our 
stricken President. 

Had General Garfield lived, if we may judge from his great 
attainments as a statesman, he would have made one of the most 
successful Presidents our country has ever had. But he was 






10 


Garfield Memorial. 


not spared to complete the work which he was chosen to perform. 
His great spirit has gone to the God who gave it; and, hence¬ 
forth, covered with laurel, he shall occupy a niche in our affec¬ 
tions and in the annals of our country alongside of Washington 
and Lincoln. The memory of such men never perish or fade, for 
they are indellibly impressed upon the hearts of the people;— 

“ And will resist the temple of decay 
Till time is o’er and worlds have passed away : 

In the cold dust the perished heart can lie. 

But that, which warmed it once, can never die.” 

Professor A. Pressinger spoke as follows : 

Mr. Chairman: 

We have met on an occasion of peculiar sadness, to endea¬ 
vor to manifest in some public manner the inexpressible conster¬ 
nation and sorrow produced in us by the dreadful event that has 
deprived our country of its great and good President. 

The chosen ruler of the land that well represents the pro¬ 
gressive European races, James A. Garfield, was himself a repre- 
presentative man; and his life is an eloquent proof of the 
excellence of those institutions that are based upon a love of 
justice and a hatred of wrong. His mournful death, although 
occasioned by a most strange and unnatural murder, proves the 
same; for it was not compassed by a political organisation for 
partisan ends: it was the desperate act of a frenzied assassin, 
who was not even a political fanatic. Nevertheless, it is shocking 
to think that a man, for no other reason than because he had 
achieved preeminence and occupied an exalted position, should 
have become a victim to the execrable cruelty of a malignant and 
ill-balanced mind. In this case, the horror which the crime 
causes is heightened by the utter absence of those motives which 
sometimes make men commit such terrible deeds. 

We sorrow for our country in having lost its Chief Magis¬ 
trate under such awful circumstances; but our grief is especially 
excited for those to whom the dead President was the object of 
tendei solicitude and dearest love. Their loss is personal and 
irreparable. Their home is made desolate and their hearts are 
broken; and our sympathy goes out to them in the midst of 
their lamentations. 










Garfield Memorial. 


11 


The Committee on Resolutions reported the 
following: 

Whereas our beloved President, General James A. Gar¬ 
field, in the midst of tbe career of honor and usefulness to 
which he had been called by his fellow-citizens, was, on the 2nd 
day of July last, sorely stricken down by the hand of a desperate 
assassin— 

And whereas, after long days of anxious suspense, during 
which we watched his struggle between life and death, with 
hearts alternating with hope and fear, at last comes the sad 
announcement that the bullet of the murderer has finally accom¬ 
plished its cruel work— 

And whereas we, citizens of the United States, temporarily 
residing in Buenos Ayres, have met on this occasion with a view 
to express our unspeakable grief and indignation at the atrocious 
crime which has been committed— 

Now, therefore: 

Resolved —That, in the death of President Garfield the 
people of the United States have lost an able, upright and 
conscientious Chief Magistrate, whose services to his country on 
the battle-field, in the Halls of Congress, and in the Executive 
office fill some of the brightest pages of our country’s history, 
while his noble nature, rare intellectual accomplishments, courtly 
Christian bearing, gentle manners and quick sympathy, have not 
only excited the love and admiration of Americans, and endeared 
him to all classes and conditions of men, but have won the esteem 
and respect of rulers and peoples throughout the civilized world. 
We deplore his untimely death, not merely as a calamity that has 
befallen our nation, but we bow our heads to the stroke with all 
the grief and sorrow of a personal loss. 

Resolved —That, through the long distance which separates 
us from our native country, our profound sympathies go out to 
Mrs. Garfield, his heroic wife, as well as to his venerable mother, 
and his children, in this hour of sore trial and affliction; and, in 
the midst of their grief and lamentation, we ask that the bene¬ 
ficent Father of all Mercies may vouchsafe His blessing on the 
smitten family, who have lost so affectionate a son, so conside¬ 
rate a husband and so good a father. 

Resolved — That we have observed and recognise with deep 
emotion the spontaneous manifestations of sorrow and sympathy 
which not only the Argentine Government, but the Press and 


■ 


m 


■ 






12 


Garfield Memorial. 


people of Buenos Ayres, without regard to nationality, have dis¬ 
played on the receipt of the intelligence of our national affliction. 

Resolved —That, as a mark of our respect for the distin¬ 
guished citizen whose death we deplore, and for whom the people 
of the United States, without distinction of party or condition, 
are now in mourning, we shall wear a badge of crape upon the 
left arm for ten days. 

Resolved— That the United States Minister Resident in 
Buenos Ayres be requested to transmit a copy of these resolu¬ 
tion to the Secretary of State at Washington, to be delivered to 
the family of the deceased. 

Consul Baker, in presenting tlie resolutions, 
spoke as follows: 

Mr. Chairman,— 

In view of the crime which has filled our hearts and our 
country with mourning, I know how inadequate these resolutions 
are, to the grief and horror which we feel. These can find no 
sufficient expression in words. 

It, is unutterably sad to know that our President—the 
President of the United States—has fallen by the hand of an 
assassin. It is sad every way. It is terrible to realize, in the 
midst of the political quiet and tranquillity which prevail in our 
beloved country, where only the arts of peace are cultivated, and 
while prosperity is reaping an abundant harvest all over our 
broad land—that there was any one—even a madman, so cruel 
and unrelenting in his madness, as to strike this fiendish blow; 
and especially, when we consider the gentle, unassuming, kind- 
hearted man who is the victim,—so great, and yet so blameless in 
his life; so good, so true and so considerate in his dealings with 
men; so amiable and tender in his family; so full of sympathy 
for others; so overflowing with all gentleness and humanity; so 
possessed of the confidence of the people; so beloved by all 
classes and conditions of men; so deserving of that confidence, 
consideration and respect! The better we came to know him, the 
more he claimed our admiration; and since his manner of life 
and his character have been laid bare to the inspection of the 

wor ld_during all the dark days which succeeded his cruel 

wounding, up to the hour when death released him from his 
suffering,—the more all peoples admired him and sent up prayers 
for his recovery. 


gggga 






Garfield Memorial. 


13 


As a man, President Garfield was above reproach. As a 
citizen, he loved and took a pride in his country. As a scholar 
and man of. letters, he had accomplishments of the highest order. 
As a Christian statesman, he stood in the first rank. As an 
orator, he was gifted in an extraordinary degree. As a soldier, 
his name is emblazoned among the bravest and best in our land. 
As a legislator, the records of Congress and the Statutes of the 
country herald his wisdom and justice. As a ruler, he possessed 
a moderation and executive ability which gave promise of a most 
successful administration. “ Take him for all in all, we shall 
not look upon his like again.” Such a man, was our poor dead 
President! for whom to-day our tears are falling, and our hearts 
are heavy with woe! 

While he still lived, the civilized world watched with deepest 
sympathy the daily tidings which were sent from his bed of lan¬ 
guishing and pain; and gave in return its words of cheer and 
comfort to his stricken family. And now, that the worst is over, 
the echoes of his funeral knell are vibrating from continent to 
continent. The nations of the earth, with that fraternity which 
makes all peoples one at heart, join in the general grief. But at 
home, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from St. Lawrence to 
the Gulf of Mexico, the spectacle must be sorrowful indeed! 
Fifty millions of people bowing themselves in the dust! Fifty 
millions of people, without regard to politics, or party affiliations, 
or social position, after nearly three months of agony and sus¬ 
pense, uniting in their prayers for God’s mercy on our stricken 
country, and his blessing on the sorely afflicted family! 

It is not strange that we, far away in this foreign land, but 
thrilled with an abiding love and affection for our native country, 
and sensitive to everything which concerns its welfare, should 
take up the wail of woe and join our sorrow with theirs. 

In the midst of our grief, however, there is one thing which 
we should not forget. Terrible as is the crime which has been 
committed, and deep as is our mortification that such a crime 
could have been perpetrated in our country, it is something to 
know, that it was only the frenzy of a single, unassisted madman 
or fiend. 

There is no political significance in the foul deed. There 
was no conspiracy against the Government. There was no con¬ 
spiracy against the life of the President. No one but the miser¬ 
able wretch who committed the act is responsible for the crime.. 












14 


Garfield Memorial. 


It is humiliating to know that there was even one man so wicked, 
and seeking snch infamous notoriety, as to have compassed so 
cruel a murder; but it is something to know that the nation lives 
and will live; that the machinery of Government, which has 
made us a great Eepublic, will go on unchecked; and that, 
though the good Lord scourge and afflict us thus sorely, it must 
be for some great end, which we cannot see or understand, but 
which, perhaps, will be made plain in the unfolding of his 
Providence. 

The nation still lives. The assassin’s hand was not strong 
enough, even for a moment, to affect its inexhaustible energies, 
or the glorious future which awaits it; and the reins of Govern¬ 
ment succeed to the hands of a tried and accomplished statesman 
who has the honor and glory of his country nearest to his heart, 
and the generous confidence and best wishes of the people in 
this sad hour, to sustain him. Under his watchful care and 
guidance, the United States of America will continue to move 
onward in their march of peaceful conquest and empire. This 
faith, this confidence is our consolation as we mourn to-day. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

Consul Baker then stated that since the meeting 
had commenced, he had received an official despatch 
from the Department of State at Washington, under 
date of August 11th, which, as showing the tender 
appreciation manifested by our lamented President of 
the kind messages of sympathy which had gone to 
him during his long struggle with Death, he felt 
that it would he most appropriate to read. It was 
as follows: 

Department of State. 

Washington, August 11 1881. 

E. L. Baker, Esq., 

Consul of the United States. 

Buenos Ayres. 

Sir: 

Referring to your despatch, number 438, in which you 
state that the feeling existing in Buenos Ayres regarding the 
attempt upon the life of the President is one of horror of the 







Garfield Memorial. 


15 


crime and sympathy for the sufferer, I have to say that this evi¬ 
dence of friendly interest coming from such a distant Republic 
is especially gratifying to the President, and he asks that his 
thanks be returned to those who have so feelingly expressed the 
hope of his rapid' recovery. 

(Signed) R. R. Hitt, 

Acting Secretary. 


Mr. W. T. Livingston moved that the pro¬ 
ceedings of the meeting he published, under the 
direction of the Secretaries, which as agreed to. 

Mr. Nelson Jacobs moved the thanks of the 
meeting to the presiding officer. General Osborn, 
which was unanimously agreed to, and the meeting 
then adjourned. 







III. 


THE POPULAR DEMONSTRATION. 


Next to the overwhelming interest manifested by 
the American residents of Buenos Ayres, in the la¬ 
mentable death of President Garfield, was the gene¬ 
rous and heartfelt sympathy exhibited by the citizens 
generally ; and this was not confined to those of any 
particular nationality. Buenos Ayres is, in every 
sense of the word, a cosmopolitan city, whose popu¬ 
lation is made up not only of Argentines hut of 
natives of almost every country; and they all ap¬ 
peared to vie with each other in their kindly expres¬ 
sions of sorrow for the United States in its national 
affliction, and of tender regard and respectful soli¬ 
citude for the stricken family in their bereavement. 
They seemed to regard the United States not only 
as an experimental school of government, exerting 
a wide influence on the destinies of the world; but 
as a land of hope to struggling peoples everywhere; 
and to feel that the bullet which prostrated its Chief 
Magistrate, although fired by a miserable, insane 
fanatic, was a blow aimed at all lovers of civil and 
political liberty, if not indeed at popular govern¬ 
ment itself. In witnessing such general manifesta¬ 
tions of personal grief by strangers, speaking diffe¬ 
rent languages, seven thousand miles away, the 
Americans in Buenos Ayres felt a deeper pride than 









Garfield Memorial. 17 

ever in tlieir beloved country ; and more than ever 
realized the fact that these must he some kinship of 
the heart;—or some common bond of fraternity in 
the manner of the rise and progress of the United 
States — something, indeed, worthy of acceptance 
and admiration in its free institutions and equality of 
personal rights, when all peoples, without regard to 
their place of birth or social condition or religious 
belief, bear such spontaneous testimony in its be¬ 
half. 


With a view to giving expression to this gene¬ 
ral sympathy of the people of Buenos Ayres, Mr. 
Mitre y Vedia of La Nation , on the 21st inst., 
addressed the following invitation to the representa¬ 
tives of the newspaper press of the city :— 

[translation] 

Buenos Ayres, Septembr 21, 1881. 

With the object of making manifest the sorrow of the 
people of Buenos Ayres on the reception of the melancholy news 
of the demise of the President of the United States, General 
James A. Garfield, and the indignation awakened here by the 
villainous outrage to which it may be attributed, I take the 
liberty of inviting you to a meeting of journalists, which will 
take place this evening at half-past seven, at the office , of La 
Nacion , 208 San Martin. At the said meeting I will have the 
honor of submiting to the representatives of the press a project 
relating to the celebration of the act to which reference is made, 
it being expedient, in my humble opinion, that everything 
should be arranged this very evening, so that it may take place 
without the loss of a moment. Feeling certain you will not fail 
to attend to the invitation I am encouraged to make by the 
generous feeling you have expressed, I have the pleasure of 
subscribing myself, Mr. Editor, 

Yours very truly, '*r - 

B. Mitre t Ybdia, 


I 







18 


Garfield Memorial. 


In accordance with the foregoing invitation, 
the representatives of the local Press met on the 
'evening of the 21st, at the office of La Nation , 
where the following programme, being suggested by 
Mr. Mitre y Vedia, was unanimously approved by 
those present: 


[translation] 

“ At noon precisely on the 26 inst., a manifestation will be 
organized in the Plaza Victoria and adjourning streets, under 
the direction of the Committee of the Press, which will appoint 
its commissaries for the superintending of the proceedings. 

“ At one o’clock precisely, the manifestation will start by 
Calle San Martin, eight abreast, leaving a space of half a yard 
between each line. 

“ The Committee of the Press .will march in the centre of 
the procession, carrying their own standard and the United 
States flag, surrounded by those of their nations, all in 
mourning. 

“ The bands of music in attendance will be suitably placed 
by the Committee, and will play funeral marches during all the 
time of the procession. 

As each line reaches the comer of San Martin and Lavalle, 
the gentlemen forming the same will take oft* their hats and 
keep them off whilst marching past the square of Calle Lavalle 
between San Martin and Florida, in which the United States 
Legation is situated, on the balcony of which the United States 
Minister, General Osborn, will be. 

“ As the procession reaches the corner of Florida and 
Parque, the act will be considered over and everyone may dis¬ 
band in whatever direction he pleases, but not stand at the 
corner nor return the way he came till the procession be past. 

“No acclamation nor speeches of any kind will be made 
from the beginning to the end of the manifestation, and the most 
perfect order and silence will be observed all the time, so as to 
correspond with the serious and solemn object in view. 

“ The national and foreign associations that decide to 
attend the manifestation as corporations, will advise the Com¬ 
mittee of the same, so that their places in the procession may 
be made known to them.” 






Garfield Memorial. 


19 


This being agreed to, it was resolved to request 
Dr. Don J. C. Gomez to act as President of the 
Committee, which position lie accepted, and addres¬ 
sed General Osborn the following note: 

* ° 

[translation]. 

Committee of the Press. 

Buenos Ayres, September 23, 1881. 

General Thomas 0. Osborn, 

United States Minister to the Argentine Republic. 

Sir,—- 

The Committee of the Buenos Ayres Press, formed with a 
view to organize a popular manifestation in homage to the me¬ 
mory of the President of the United States, General James A. 
Garfield, who has fallen a victim to the hand of an assassin, has 
directed me to address myself to Your Excellency and bring to 
your knowledge that the inhabitants, native and foreign, of this 
city, as also its authorities join in the said manifestation, which is 
one of grief for the loss of the illustrious citizen who won the 
proud privilege of being designed by the free vote of his 
Country to direct its affairs ; one of brotherly affection towards 
the great Republic that makes Liberty its supreme Law; one 
of condolence with the distress of the bereaved; one of re¬ 
probation of the crime and as a deserved mark of high regard 
to the worthy Representative of the United States to the 
Argentine Republic. 

In consequence whereof I fulfil the duty, as Chairman of 
the said Committee, of bringing to Your Excellency’s know¬ 
ledge that on the 25th instant, the aforesaid procession 
will leaye Plaza Victoria at 1 pm., marching down San Martin 
Street as far as General Lavalle Street, turning up the same as 
far as Florida Street in a procession of honour and with flags 
in mourning, in order to appear before Your Excellency who 
will doubtless be pleased to await the same and receive with 
approbation this demonstration in all its lofty and solemn signi¬ 
fication, and that Your Excellency will undertake to be the 
channel for communicating the same to the Government and 
people of your Country. 

I have the satisfaction of tendering to Your Excellency the 
expression of my distinguished consideration, and remain your 
obedient, humble servant, 


Juan Carlos Gomez. 







20 


Garfield Memorial. 


The following account of the demonstration is 
compiled and translated from the newspapers of 
Buenos Ayres, all of which published full and ex¬ 
tended reports of the affair: 

Notwithstanding the threatening and very 
uncertain state of the weather the manifestation on 
the 25th inst. in honour of the late President of the 
United States, General James A. Garfield, took place 
in accordance with the arrangements made by the 
Committee of the Press, and proved, without excep¬ 
tion, the grandest thing of the kind ever witnessed in 
Buenos Ayres. The whole people—who, in spite of 
diversity of origin, nationality, social status and poli¬ 
tical or religious sentiments and opinions, never be¬ 
fore appeared so much like one people, so united in 
one common bond of sympathy and community of 
feeling — joined with one accord, in showing their 
abhorrence for the inhuman crime of assassination, 
their sympathy for the bereaved, and their honour 
for the memory of the great and good man whose life 
offers so many practical lessons and whose history, 
from the cradle to the grave, is one continuous exam¬ 
ple of those lives of great men which “all remind us 
we can make our lives sublime.” Hence, though the 
great Republic of the North has always been, and is 
always likely to be the most perfect model on which 
to base the institutions of young and rising nations 
striving to follow her in her pathway to glory, the 
tragic death of her late lamented President lias done 
more to impress upon the public mind, in this coun¬ 
try, the greatness of its ideal, and the worthiness of 
its high aspirations for the formation of a free “gov¬ 
ernment of the people by the people,” than any 
other single circumstance of which we have any 
knowledge. 


f 






Garfield Memorial. 


21 


The death of General Garfield has been the 
occasion of the general discussion of his life, and so 
beautiful a life as his cannot he made the object of 
popular contemplation without redounding to the 
good of all who take any part in such an engage¬ 
ment. Community of feeling in one thing, of what¬ 
ever nature that feeling may be, engenders commu¬ 
nity of feeling in everything besides; hence, the 
universal expression of sentiment made by all the 
nationalities represented in this country, even if it 
had gone no further than to make the thousands of 
persons who took part, walk a few squares in the 
same direction and with the same object in view, 
cannot but have strengthened the ties which bind 
them in other respects, and directed their common 
aspirations to the same object, their united great¬ 
ness as a people, rather than as individuals living 
among aliens and strangers, for the promotion of 
their own individual wellbeing. 

The manifestation has proved, doubtless to the 
astonishment of many who were instrumental in 
bringing it to pass, that the fifty million souls in the 
North are only separated by a comparatively short 
distance over land or sea from the smaller popula¬ 
tions in this and the neighbouring countries; whilst, 
in every other respect,—in their execration of vil¬ 
lainy, their admiration for the great and the good, in 
their efforts for the freedom and happiness, the peace 
and wellbeing of the human race,—they are one, 
weeping over the same grief, rejoicing in the same 
hope, and striving by their energy, perseverance and 
labour to the realization of the same ideal—the ad¬ 
vancement of mankind. 










22 Garfield Memorial. 


Long before 12 o’clock noon, the hour named 
for forming the column, Dr. I). Juan Carlos Gomez, 
President and the members of the Committee of the 
Press, with the representatives of the Municipality, 
and the Police authorities, were in waiting in Plaza 
Victoria. The various societies and organised bodies 
were assigned their positions as they arrived on the 
Plaza; and punctually at one o’clock the procession 
began to move by Calle San Martin. Upon receiving 
additions at Calles Piedad and Cuvo it was formed in 
the following order: 


FIRST DIVISION. 

Commissaries 
of the 

Several Sections followed by the Municipal Police. 
MUSIC. 

The Italian Societies of Buenos Ayres, 
preceeded by 

their own Bands of Music, 
as follows: 

Reducci delle Patria Battaglie, 

Unione e Benevolenza, 
with twelve Delegations from the Country. 

MUSIC. 

Colonia Italiana, 

Italia Unita. 

MUSIC. 

Lago di Como, 

Centro Republicano Italiano. 

MUSIC. 

Lega Lombarda, 

Roma, 

Unione Operai Italiani. 

MUSIC. 

Stella di Roma, 

Stella di Italia, 

Alianza Republicana. 

MUSIC. 

Circolo Mazzini, 

Tutti per uno y uno per tutti, 
Margarita de Saboya. 

MUSIC. 











Garfield Memorial. 


23 


Liberi Pensatori, 

Unione e Benevolenza de San Fernando, 
Patria e Lavoro, 

Nazionale Italiana, 

Mutuo Socorro de San Jose de Flores. 

MUSIC—MARINE BAND. 

Swiss Societies of Buenos Ayres. 
Austro-Hungarian Society. 

MUSIC. 

Column of Argentine Citizens. 


SECOND DIVISION. 

MUSIC—ARTILLERY BAND. 

The Committee of the Press of Buenos Ayres, 
at the head of which was 
Dr. Don Juan Carlos Gomez, President, 
followed by 

The Tipographical Society of Buenos Ayres. 

MUSIC. 

The Officers of the Municipality of Buenos Ayres, 
headed by 

Sr. Torcuato de Alvear, President. 

Then came the 
National Board of Education, 
headed by 

Dr. Sarmiento, ex-President of the Argentine Republic. 

MUSIC—BAND OF THE STH OF THE LINE. 

Citizens of Uruguay residing in Buenos Ayres, 
with General Bartolome Mitre, 
ex-President of the Argentine Republic, 
at the head. 

Citizens of Bolivia residing in Buenos Ayres. 
Citizens of Paraguay residing in Buenos Ayres. 

MUSIC. 

The German Societies of Buenos Ayres. 

The Professors and Students 
of the Negrotto College. 

Column of Argentine Citizens, 
headed by 

St. D. Francisco Madero, Vice-President of the Republic. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

MUSIC —BAND OF THE 1ST OF THE LINE. 

The French Societies of Buenos Ayres, 
in the following order: 

Societe de L’Union, 









24 Garfield Memorial. 


Societe des Cents, 

Les Enfants de Beranger, 

Societe La Republicaine, 

Societe Apollon. 

MUSIC. 

The Spanish Societies of Buenos Ayres, 
as follows: 

Club Democratico Espahol, 

Asilo Romero Gimenez, 

Union Espanola, 

Salamanca Primitiva, 

Anselmo Clave. 

MUSIC. 

Centro Gallego, 

Sociedad Espanola de BeneScencia, 
Ateneo Espahol, 

La Marina, 

Laurak-Bat. 

FOURTH DIVISION. 

MUSIC. 

Members of the English Literary Society. 
Uruguayan Literary Society. 

The Officers and Members 
of the Argentine Rural Society. 

The Officers and Members 
of the Argentine Industrial Centre. 
Column of People of all Nationalities. 


Tlie effect of the sad procession, as it moved up 
Calle San Martin towards Calle General Lava lie, was 
something which baffles description. Not only were 
the streets filled with a moving mass of people, hut 
the side-walks, windows, balconies, and house-tops 
were crowded with spectators; while on each side of 
the street, as a back ground to the scene, crowning 
the edifices and covering their fronts, hundreds of 
flags and banners, half-masted or draped with em¬ 
blems of mourning, and representing nearly all the 
nations of the earth, were waving in the free air, in 
honor of the occasion. Other hundreds of flags and 


























Garfield Memorial. 


23 


banners, also heavily draped, were borne aloft by the 
moving procession, while from the midst of this mul¬ 
titude, like the solemn notes of a sublime chorus, the 
measured harmonies of the funeral marches executed 
by sixteen bands of music, sounded at intervals 
through the length of the column. 

In the centre of all, splendid in its ideal, rose 
high above all heads the standard of the Press of 
Buenos Ayres, covered with crape, symbolizing the 
grandeur of the act of homage which had been 
organised under its auspices. This standard was 
carried by Sr. Godolfo Huss, Editor of the Revista 
Ganaderia , and united with it w^as the glorious 
banner of the United States, also draped in heavy 
mourning, carried hy Sr. Bon Juan It. Silveyra, 
Editor of JSl Libre Rensador , and surrounded by 
the flags of innumerable other nationalities, also 
heavily draped. 

The spectacle was most impressive. The sun¬ 
light at intervals broke through the sombre heavens 
and cast a glory upon the scene, bringing into view 
its most brilliant points even to the minutest details; 
and a moment after, hiding behind the dense masses 
of clouds which overhung the sky, threw over the 
pageant a heavy, opaque gloom, sad like the prevail¬ 
ing sentiment, and in keeping with the surroundings. 
Nor was the effect diminished by the occasional 
drops of rain, which, like the pure tears of heaven, 
descended from time to time on men and flags and 
crape. 

In the front of the Press Committee marched 
its President, Br. Bon Juan Carlos Gomez, accom¬ 
panied by Sr. Bon Torcuato de Alvear, President 
of the Municipality, and all the representatives of 






26 


Garfield Memorial. 


the Press of the city. And in the group which 
followed was the National Board of Education, at 
the head of which was Dr. Sarmiento, ex-President 
of the Argentine Republic. Later on came a column 
of citizens of the neighboring Republic of Uruguay, 
with whom on this occasion walked General Barto- 
lome Mitre, also ex-President of the Argentine Re. 
public. Then came Sr. Madero, Vice-President of 
the Argentine Republic, and a large number of the 
most distinguished citizens of Buenos Ayres, among 
whom were included Generals, Doctors, Lawyers* 
professional men in other departments, merchants, 
estancieros, and others, many of them infirm, old 
men, who in spite of fatigue and the rain which 
threatened, refused to leave the ranks until the 
demonstration was over. 

The United States Legation, and the residence 
of Consul Baker, both draped in deepest mourning, 
were crowded with Diplomatic representatives and 
American citizens and ladies, as were also those of 
all the houses between the Plaza Victoria and Calle 
Lavalle. The balconies of the Government and the 
Municipality buildings were likewise draped in 
mourning; the escutcheon over the door of the 
British Consulate was also draped, and the flags 
on all the public buildings and a great many private 
houses were kept at half-mast all day. 

As each group or society turned the comer of 
Calle Lavalle, those composing it silently uncovered 
their heads, and trailing their flags and banners, 
with slow and measured tread defiled in front of the 
Legation of the United States, on the balcony of 
which stood General Osborn, whose face reflected the 
profound emotion he felt in the presence of the 






Garfield Memorial. 


27 


touching spectacle which for nearly an hour con¬ 
tinued to pass before his eyes. All this time not a 
word broke the solemn silence; hut the silence was 
more eloquent than any words. More than one 
man, educated in the rude school of the world and 
accustomed to the sharp combats of life, was irresist- 
ahly moved to tears. 

How are we to explain this popular emotion 
over the death of a man who was horn two thousand 
leagues away, and whose name six months ago was 
scarcely known in Buenos Ayres ? The explanation 
is easy. The sentiment which produces such spon¬ 
taneous exhibitions of feeling does not exclusively 
result from our contemplation of the man whose 
memory is honored, hut in our respect and sympathy 
for the people to whom he belonged. In thus honor¬ 
ing President Garfield, we honor his country, free in 
its democracy like our own. In glorifying the ruler 
thus sacrificed by the frenzy of a madman, we 
glorify the free ballot which raised him to power. 
In publicly grieving for the loss of a citizen who by 
his own natural abilities and powers was raised to 
the chair occupied by Washington, we express our 
admiration for every man who is a patriot. The 
immense crowd which assisted in this demonstration 
understood all this; and it was because they under¬ 
stood it that they bowed themselves in the presence 
of the representative of the Great Republic. 


After the last of the procession had gone by, 
Hr. Gomez, who, with the President of the Munici¬ 
pality, had joined General Osborn on the balcony of 
the Legation, made kn#wn to His Excellency, that 







28 


Garfield Memorial. 


the manifestation which had just taken place was 
the expression of abhorrence for the crime which 
had robbed the United States of so good a President, 
of sympathy for his bereaved family and of condo¬ 
lence with the people of that great Republic, which 
the Argentine Press and People wished to offer His 
Excellency, as the representative of the United 
States. General Osborn replied in suitable terms, 
gratefully acknowledging the honour done to the 
illustrious memory of the lamented President Gar¬ 
field, and assuring the President of the Committee 
that the generous and fraternal feelings of the Press 
and people of Buenos Ayres would he faithfully 
interpreted to his Government at Washington. 

Thus ended the manifestation in honor of Pre¬ 
sident Garfield, and it has done much to unite the 
people of all classes and nationalities in this city 
among themselves; it lias also united them as a 
people with the people of the North, and it has 
condemned, with a great and terrible condemnation, 
the act of the miserable assassin who, for personal or 
political motives, raised his homicidal arm against 
the ruler of his country. 

And thus, whilst mingling their grief with that 
of the people of the United States, let us hope that 
the many practical and necessary lessons to he 
derived from this sad and mysterious dispensation 
of Providence, many teach all peoples how 

None of all the wreaths we prize 

But are born of weeping skies, 

and may the tears, shed over the grave of the beloved 
choice of his fellow citizens in the United States» 
water and make green the laurels which will crown 
the brow of Liberty, when her reign shall be esta- 






Garfield Memorial. 


29 


blised upon a firm and enduring foundation all over 
this great Continent, in the South as well as in the 
North. 


Upon the conclusion of the demonstration, Ge¬ 
neral Osborn addressed the following letter of thanks 
through Dr. Gomez, to all who took part in it: 

Buenos Ayres, September 26th. 

To Sehor Don Juan Carlos Gomez, 

President of the Buenos Ayres Press Demonstration, 

Dear Sir: 

For your beautiful and touching address, as the President 
of the Committee of the Press of Buenos Ayres, and for the 
solemn but grand manifestation of yesterday, in honour of the 
memory of General Garfield, late President of the United States, 
so expressive of sorrow and sympathy for the loss of her first 
citizen, please accept, for your Committee, my profound gratitude 
as also that of my countrymen residing in this city; and be 
assured that my Government will know, and, with all her people, 
will appreciate the delicate tenderness with which the citizens of 
this Eepublic manifest their sorrow and sympathy to a sister 
Republic in her hour of grief. I desire, Mr. President, to express 
my thanks, to you and, through you, to your Committee—the 
Representatives of the Press—and to the societies, clubs and 
individuals who joined in the solemn procession, and who, either 
personally or by letter, gave such delicate attentions to this 
Legation during those days of sorrow. 

Please accept the assurances of my kindest regard and 
highest consideration, 

Thomas O. Osborn. 




Such was the popular demonstration of respect 
spontaneously offered to the memory of President 
Garfield by the people of Buenos Ayres. No one 
who witnessed that solemn procession will soon 
forget the impression it left upon his mind. It was, 













30 


Garfield Memorial. 


not only in its inception, but in the manner in which 
it was carried out, a most touching manifestation of 
heartfelt sympathy and regard. It was not a mere 
show, intended for effect, hut it originated in and 
sprang from the warm impulses of generous, liberty- 
loving men, who though born under different skies 
and speaking different languages, feel the same love 
for the true and the beautiful, the same veneration 
for law and order, and the same aspirations for the 
unattained good in all social, civil and political 
affairs. No American looked upon that procession 
of sorrowing people but with emotions which no 
mere words could express. Embodying, as it did, all 
shades of political opinion and all nationalities, it 
was the outward expression of that sentiment of 
human nature which is common ground, and which 
never fails to move and fill all hearts. 

Never before was such a demonstration witnessed 
in Buenos Ayres; and the kindly words and deeds 
which accompanied it have conquered what hostile 
armies might try in vain to do—the affection, gra¬ 
titude and obligation of the American Republic. 
When the fifty millions of people of the United 
States, although so many thousands of miles away, 
are informed that in the Capital of a young Republic 
under the Southern Cross, thousands and thousands 
of sorrowing men, with solemn tread and muffled 
drums, with drooping flags and uncovered heads* 
saluted the shrouded flag and bowed before the 
official representative of the United States, as an 
act of sympathy with its people in their lamentable 
loss,—we may be sure that Buenos Ayres will in 
return receive the grateful, heartfelt, fervent thanks 
of that sorrowing people; and the Argentine Re- 









Garfield Memorial. 


31 


public will never again appear to Americans to be so 
distant or so much a stranger as before; while the 
devoted, grief-stricken family of the dead President 
will cherish the recital of those events as a most pre¬ 
cious souvenir. 

Such scenes, such international episodes, help 
our faith in human nature; and that reverent mul¬ 
titude thus made up from those who came from the 
east and from the west, and from the north and from 
the south—all moved by one common feeling of 
sacred pity and kindly feeling, cannot fail to 
strengthen the belief that humanity is on the upward 
march towards the attainment of that universal 
brotherhood of man which suffers and rejoices in 
common. 










rv\ 


MEMORIAL SERVICES AT THE AMERICAN 
M. E. CHURCH. 


Memorial services in honor of President Gar¬ 
field took place at the American Methodist Episcopal 
Church on Sunday the 1st of October. The Church, 
which was filled with a most attentive congregation, 
was appropriately draped in mourning for the oc¬ 
casion. The windows were all enveloped in heavy 
folds of black, as were also the gallery and organ; 
while the large chancel window was decorated with 
the flags of the Argentine Republic and the United 
States, intertwined with borders of mourning. Be¬ 
low this was the motto : 






1831-JAMES A. GARFIELD-1881 






The pulpit was also heavily draped with festoons of 
crape, with a beautiful cross worked in its centre. 
The railings of the chancel were likewise covered 
with black, over which there was grouped the 
greatest profusion of rare white flowers. The music, 
which was under the direction of Mr. John R. 
Naghten, was very fine, beginning with the “Bead 
March in Saul” as a voluntary, on the organ. This 














Garfield Memorial. 


33 


was followed by the hymn-anthem “ Sleep thy last 
sleep, 55 by Barnby. Then was sung the hymn, 
beginning: 

V Earth’s transitory things decay; 

Its pomps, its pleasures pass away; 

But the sweet memory of the good 

Survives in the vicissitude.” 

After the prayer and the reading of the lesson was 
sung the anthem “ Vital spark. 55 The Bey. Mr. 
Thomson, pastor of the Church, then delivered the 
following discourse:— 

“Let men say among the nations: The Lord reigneth .” 

—1. Chron. xvi., 31. 

In the midst of these sombre drapings and floral tributes, 
we are gathered in the house of God to enquire at his hands 
concerning the dark affliction which the death of President Gar¬ 
field has brought to the hearts of all good men. 

He who has fallen was one of the princes of Israel, as well 
as a ruler of the nations, and surely, underneath him were the 
everlasting arms of Israel’s God, to stay him in his long agony, 
and make him glorious even in death. 

These emblems speak for us. If the crape tells of Ameri¬ 
ca’s and the world’s loss, the Cross reminds us of Garfield’s 
gain; if the crape shows that death hath been a victor with 
regard to us, cruelly bereaving us and relentlessly dragging his 
prey from the loving arms that would have detained it—the 
Cross reminds us of Garfield’s triumph over death, and ten¬ 
derly suggests those arms of infinite love that received the mar¬ 
tyr in heaven. 

If the crape recalls the sin that works, the pangs that acom- 
pany, and the tears that follow death, the Cross reminds us that 
through death Christ became the world’s Redeemer, and that he 
who walked among men as the Light of the world, became by 
death, the King of Glory. Precious in the sight of the Lord , is 
the death of his saints. 

Sixteen years ago Lincoln—gentle-hearted, great-souled 
Lincoln—was stricken down by the hand of one who shall be 
forever infamous. 

In the city of New York the dread news had called into the 
streets a huge and frantic mob, eager to take vengeance on 







34 


Garfield Memorial. 


those who had calumniated, and harassed the great President 
both before and after the closing of the war. That mob was 
wild ; it had already scented blood; two wicked fools who had 
rashly expressed their approbation of the crime were trampled 
to death in the gutters, and now heaving and roaring like 
an angry sea the mob had gathered in front of the Astor House 
for something desperate. Suddenly a man of commanding pre¬ 
sence rose above the throng, and waving the national flag before 
their eyes asked to be heard. Then with clarion voice, he thril¬ 
led the souls of that multitude with the following sublime de¬ 
claration of his faith: “ Fellow-citizens, clouds and darkness are 
round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habita¬ 
tion of his throne; his pavilion round about him are dark 
waters and thick clouds of the skies. Fellow-citizens, God 
reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives.” 

The voice that stilled that tempest was Garfield’s, and the 
faith of his utterance shall be the key note of our discourse 
to-day. 

God reigns! Not simply 1 God is.* Let men say among the 
nations : The Lord reigneth. We have heard of the new god 
‘ Force,* and are not altogether strangers to the reasoning by 
which his votaries would establish his claims to our recognition; 
but our heart rejects this soulless and unfeeling deity ; we shud¬ 
der at the bare thought of an infinite power, undirected by infi¬ 
nite Will, and unhallowed by infinite Love. For in truth, what 
can be more dreadful than the conception of a force that can call 
myriads of beings into an inheritance of sorrow, from which 
their blind creator is itself exempt, and of which it is helplessly, 
hopelessly ignorant ? Our heart rejects this falsehood and our 
mind repudiates it with scornful indignation. 

Imagination with Reason for her pilot goes forth into 
the awful depths of space, and takes her stand near the heart of 
the universe. There she sees what language cannot utter—the 
vastness of creation—systems, constellations, galaxies * bright 
streams of worlds* forever flowing round that central point. 
And, amazing thought, each spark in those infinite torrents of 
light is freighted with millions of* sentient souls—souls that can 
long for perfect happiness and aspire to endless progress. But 
reason sees more; it is in these souls only that the Universe has 
a significant existence. Destroy the listening ear, and with it 
you have destroyed all distinctions of sound, even the distinc- 






Garfield Memorial. 


35 


tion between it and silence; there is neither harmony nor dis¬ 
cord, loud nor low; and the rattling of heaven’s artillery is even 
as the stillness of a summer night. Destroy the sense of seeing, 
and you have made the light to become as the darkness, and con¬ 
founded midnight with noon. Blot out thought and conscious¬ 
ness, and the whole universe of dead matter is as if it were not. 

Mind, then, is the supremest existence; and are we to be 
told it hath no answering mind in the power that created it ? 
that there is no great and almighty soul that can hear us when 
we cry unto him, and relieve us in our distress ? Is the Uni¬ 
verse filled with longings, that no force in the Universe can sa¬ 
tisfy ? Is every individual mind doomed to go back into dark¬ 
ness with the burden of life unlifted, and its mystery unsolved ? 
Are we who can think and must think, the wretched victims of 
a force that has filled us with hunger and thirst and intensest 
desires, and yet itself has never thought, nor felt, nor desired ? 
O! is there no living, loving Father God ? There is , and he 
reigneth in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. “ He 
is wise in heart and mighty in strength; he removeth the 
mountains and they know not; he over turneth them in his anger; 
he shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof 
tremble ; he commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth 
up the stars ; he alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth 
upon the waves of the sea; he maketh Arcturus, Orion, and 
Pleiades, and the chambers of the South; he doeth great things 
past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. Lo, he 
goeth by me, and I see him not, he passeth on also but I perceive 
him not.” O, Lord ! clouds and darkness are round about thee, 
yet righteousness and judgment are the habitation of thy throne, 
for “ Thou knowest my downsetting and mine uprising ; Thou 
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path 

and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. 

Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? Or wither shall I flee from 
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there; if j 
make my bed in hell, behold thou are there. If I take the 
wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall 
hold me.” 

This was Garfield’s God, and let Garfield’s faith in him be 
the star that streams light through the dark shadow cast on the 
world by his death. 






36 


Garfield Memorial. 


Blind unbelief will say: “ Why, then, was he suffered to be 
striken in all the plenitude of his cultured powers ? Why, if so 
good and god-fearing, was he hurled from an eminence where the 
light of his virtues might shine on all the world ? Where was 
the answering voice of Garfield’s God to the agonizing prayers 
of that saintly mother, who for nearly a century had served him 
with unwavering fidelity ?” 

We cannot say why ; clouds and darkness are round about 
him, but righteouness and judgment are the habitation of his 
throne. We will not believe that the President was God-for¬ 
saken, nor that the Almighty smote him in wrath. 

Of all the people in the world that aged mother will be the 
last to cast away her confidence in Jehovah, or to believe that he 
had abandoned her much loved son. 

She had passed through the darkness before, and clinging to 
her heavenly-Father’s hand, had come forth into the light. Who 
could have explained to her, and shown her why she should have 
been left, forty years ago, in the wilderness of Ohio and almost 
without bread ? 

Why should death have then invaded her home, and taken 
away the stay of the house in the very moment of direst need ? 
No one could have answered then ; it was all darkness and bit¬ 
terness then. Now we can see that there was mercy in the cup. 
All that toil and self-sacrifice, that heroic endurance and final 
triumph, have been trumpeted to the ends of the earth. She 
was preaching a sermon in noble deeds, that will be read and do 
good, while the English language lasts. 

Garfield’s preeminence has made his mother famous, but 
she has a glory of her own, and it is such as pales not even in 
the presence of her illustrious son. Hereafter when, alas ! the 
home of many a hardy pioneer shall be shadowed by death, and 
the widow shall be left to battle with the world and win from it 
bread for her children, the image and the history of Mrs. Gar¬ 
field will rise before her like a living presence and save her from 
despair. An influence like this is godlike, and is worthy to be 
pui chased by many tribulations. 

But why did Providence suffer the President to be slain ? 
We cannot tell! But we believe Providence will make even 
death tributary to the martyr’s fame. The hand of the assassin 
was raised in wrath, but God can make the wrath of men to praise 
him. The fiendish act by which a madman intended to lay the 








Garfield Memorial. 


37 


victim low and destroy his influence, has but lifted that victim 
up to the reverence of the world, and embalmed him in the love 
of his countrymen. 

We sincerely believe Garfield would have made a great 
ruler, for he was not only highly endowed by his Maker, but 
also full ©f rich experience, and himself ruled by the noblest 
principles. He had become fit to command through long obe¬ 
dience to the truth; he had a regal will to enforce his convic¬ 
tions ; to whims he seems to have been a stranger, and the light 
in the depths of his clear, steady eyes was a terror to syco¬ 
phants, and hypocritical time-servers. His greatness was in 
him, and not on him. Yet, and we say it with a feeling of sad¬ 
ness, had all these noble qualities been consecrated to the good 
of his country during one or more Presidential terms, we doubt 
if his devotion would have given him the place he now holds in 
the hearts of his people. 

Man never appreciates the good possessed and present, and 
we only see clearly into the worth of our benefactors, when our 
eyes have been washed by the tears that weep their departure. 

Death crystalized the fame of Garfield when, without a 
mote, it was shining in meridian splendor. He had reached the 
highest summit of earthly honor, for we know no higher place, 
than that held by the man, who has been chosen by virtue of his 
merits, to rule the destinies of fifty-five millions of freemen. 

Garfield’s life will take rank amongst the noblest; and the 
history of it, like that of Lincoln, is one of the grandest lega¬ 
cies our generation leaves to coming time. It is saying a great 
deal, but I feel moved to say, Garfield’s life comes very near per¬ 
fection. His achievements were worthy of his character, and 
what is far from common, his rewards and enjoyments were 
worthy of both. I ask you to bid your memory call up, if it 
can, a better sample of a full-orbed and worthily successful man; 
yet, he owed nothing to fortune, and therefore is he an example 
and an encouragement. Had he, at his birth, fallen into the 
jap of luxury, and found a path to influence and learning ready- 
beaten for his feet, then he had never been an example to the 
poor; had he been carried by the flood of that famous tide 
which Shakespeare says leads on to fortune, then his life had ne¬ 
ver been an encouragment to the industrious. There is perhaps 
no distinguished man whose successes are so easily traced to 
hard, earnest and meritorious labor. 






38 Garfield Memorial. 


G-arfield was an excellet classical scholar; he was familiar 
with the richest and profoundest of the modern tongues; he was 
a master of the abstruse science of mathematics ; as a clear 
sound financier he merited and received the encomiums of Glad¬ 
stone, than whom no greater financier lives; as an orator whose 
aim is to convince he had no superior in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, where for years he led his party with advantage to the 
nation and honour to himself. But he worked for it all; he 
earned it all and therefore will his memory be forever precious 
to those who have nought to depend upon but their own ener¬ 
gies. He was a conspicuous illustration of the truth of the 
inspiring adage, ‘ Labor conquers all things.’ 

So much for his mental qualities; if not absolutely perfect 
(and whose are) they were sufficiently so to enable him to dis¬ 
charge his high duties with perfect success , and an archangel 
could do no more. 

Morally he was a peer among the princes. Ho ascetic, no 
pharisee, no cranks nor crochets were in him; his law was the 
blessed Gospel of Jesus, and the Spirit of Jesus his guide. 

How beautiful the history of his home-life and heart-life. 
He was mated to a soul of the same heroic mould as his own, 
and he loved her with a grand devotion. Let me quote from a 
letter this noble woman wrote to her husband some ten years 
ago. It will illustrate one notable phase of his character as well 
as her own. She says : “ Here I am compelled by an inevitable 
necessity to make our bread this summer. Why not consider it 
a pleasant occupation and make it so, by trying to see what per¬ 
fect bread I can make. It seemed like an inspiration and the 
whole of life grew brighter. The very sunshine seemed to 
mingle with my work; and this truth as old as creation seems 
just now to have become fully mine—that I need not be tho 
shrinking slave of toil, but its regal master, making everything I 
do, yield its best fruits. You have been king of your work so 
long, that it may be you will laugh at me for having lived so long 
without my crown.” 

Hoble words ! Who can doubt they have gone into thou¬ 
sands of homes to make them happier and brighter. She who 
uttered them was the dearest gift with which God had crowned 
the life of James Abram Garfield. She was not only the 
wife of a great man, she was a part of his greatness. The tele¬ 
gram that summoned her to his side, had a sentence in it that 








Garfield Memorial. 


39 


deeply moved me. " The President hopes you will come to him 
soon.” “ On some fond breast the parting soul relies,” and 
Garfield had too much reason to fear he was dying. Good men 
and wise men were ready to comfort him, but his soul went out 
to her as its chosen human stay. Her strong, loyal spirit was 
more to him than medicine, and the witnesses are agreed that he 
rallied immediately, under the blessed influence of her presence. 
How beautiful his domestic life before the tragedy. Like all else 
in his history it seems to have been a triumph, a perfect success. 

How unutterably sad to think on the shadow that has come 
on the dwelling place of so much purity and santified love. O 
God! around whom are clouds and darkness, pity the striken 
ones we pray thee, and sustain them by thy grace. 

Garfield has gone, but he will never be forgotten. We 
thank the Almighty for having given him to the world; he has 
made it better by his presence, and we firmly believe, that his 
influence that makes so steadily for righteouress, will be felt till 
time will be no more. 

Out of poverty, through adversity, he rose by merit, to 
glory’s highest summit, and dying, yet lives, and shall live for¬ 
ever with Washington and Lincoln, enshrined in the love of his 
people and of just men everywhere. 

Upon the conclusion of the sermon, the choir 
sung the anthem, “Brother, thou art gone before 
us,” by Sir John Goss, which was followed by the 
hymn: 

“ Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep. 

From which none ever wakes to weep! 

A calm and undisturbed repose. 

Unbroken by the last of foes.” 

The services closed with Beethoven’s funeral march 
as the final voluntary. 

In the evening, the Church was absolutely 
crowded with a native congregation, and the same 
discourse was preached by the Bev. Mr. Thomson 
in the Spanish language. 











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